This concentration provides students with an in-depth understanding of the behavioral and social aspects of interacting with and through information technology. Courses cover various aspects of how technology affects and is being affected by human behavior and social interactions. 

The core course related to this concentration is INFO 2450: Communication and Technology.

Some faculty members whose research is related to this concentration include: Sharlane Cleare, Cristian Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, Nicola Dell, Susan Fussell, Malte Jung, Lillian Lee, Gilly Leshed, René Kizilcec, Mor Naaman, Tapan Parikh, Aditya Vashistha, and Qian Yang.

Career Paths

  • Professional Careers in UX research and design
  • Academic careers related to human-computer interaction and social aspects of technology
  • Related job titles: interaction designer, user experience designer, user experience architect, usability analyst, user research associate

Behavioral Science Courses

Please reference the Cornell Class Roster for details on the courses below.

A. Understanding Social Behavior (choose two)

  • INFO 3460: Crowds, Communities, and Technology
  • INFO 4430: Teams and Technology
  • INFO 4450: Computer-Mediated Communication
  • INFO 4490: Social Behavior and Technology
  • INFO 4500: Language and Technology
  • INFO 4505: Computing and Global Development
  • INFO 4800: Behavioral Science Interventions
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Building Inclusive Computing Organizations
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Technology and Underserved Communities
  • COMM 4380: Communication in Virtual Worlds
  • PSYCH 3800: Social Cognition

B. Social Data Analytics (choose one)

  • INFO 3300: Visual Data Analytics for the Web (Previously: Data-Driven Web Applications)
  • INFO 3950: Data Analytics for Information Science 
  • INFO 4100: Learning Analytics
  • INFO 4300: Language and Information
  • INFO 4350: Conversations and Information
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - How LLMs Work, Their Potential, and Limitations
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Applied Machine Learning: Methods and Applications
  • COMM 4242: The Design & Governance of Field Experiments
  • CS 4740: Natural Language Processing
  • CS 3780 (previously 4780): Machine Learning for Intelligent Systems

C. Behavior in Sociological, Network, and Design Contexts (choose one)

*Please note that you will choose one course from one of the Context sections: either Sociological, Network, or Design. NOT one from each.

C1. Behavior in Sociological Context: 

  • INFO 3200: Technology, Behavior, and Society (Previously: New Media and Society)
  • INFO 3561: Computing Cultures
  • INFO 4650: Mobile Communication in Public Life
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Law, Policy, and Politics of Cybersecurity
  • COMM 4410: Communicating Self in Social Media
  • STS 3440: The Data Science & Society Lab

C2: Behavior in Network Context: 

  • INFO 4360: Communication Networks and Social Capital
  • ​COMM 4940: Special Topics - Human-Algorithm Behavior
  • SOC 3350: Covert Social Networks

C3: Behavior in Design Context:

  • INFO 3450: Human-Computer Interaction Design
  • INFO 4240: Designing Technology for Social Impact
  • ​INFO 4400: Qualitative User Research and Design Methods
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Technology and Social Change Practicum